{p. 307}
"6. He commandeth the snow to go down upon the earth, and the winter rain and the shower of his strength "--("the great rain of his strength," says the King James version).
"7. He sealeth up the hand of every man."
This means, says one commentator, that "he confines men within doors" by these great rains. Instead of houses we infer it to mean "the caves of the earth," already spoken of, (chap. xxx, v. 6,) and this is rendered more evident by the next verse:
"8. And the beast shall go into his covert and shall abide in his den.
"9. Out of the inner parts" (meaning the south, say the commentators and the King James version) "shall tempest come, and cold out of the north.
"10. When God bloweth, there cometh frost, and again the waters are poured forth abundantly."
The King James version continues:
"11. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud."
That is to say, the cloud is gradually dissipated by dropping its moisture in snow and rain.